Underground Literature

(1,412 words)

The underground has its raison d'être in the establishment it undermines. Not all types of establishment culture engender countercurrents, but any underground culture presupposes clear dominance by an establishment. No matter what scope is assigned to underground literature, in modern Chinese history the concept is therefore of particular relevance in the PRC since the 1950s. PRC authorities have consistently attached importance to literature as a tool for disseminating orthodox ideology, and seen se…